Index



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INDEX.

Patented May 28, 1395- 0. 0.HALL au A. E. MGGHBSNEY.`

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2%. www n CHARLES c. HALL ANDALBERT E..,MccHEsNEY, or sYRAcUsE, NEW YORK.

.L UNITED STA-Tes PATENT' OFFICE;

INDjEx.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters `Patent No. l540,@50, dated May 28,1895'.

y Application nea' May14,1e94.

To all whom 1S-may concern:`

v'bers of names are to be readily and economically indexed,and which must necessarily be` so indexed as `to permit the quickest possible` reference.

Our obj ect is to produce an index to be used 1n connection with records or name books of any kind, involving very large numbrs of names,asfor instance, one hundred thousand names,v1nore or less, and comprises a set otv separately, or pasted or bound into the namebook to which reference is to be made, either iipon the inside of the cover, or on the fly-page, or constitute the ily-page of the book. page numbers of the tables refer in each instance to the tirst page (numerically) assigned in the name-book to each subdivision shown in the table. The tables are so arranged as to indicate the first three letters of the surnames in all of the possible combinations, or substantially all of them, whether for surnames in English, German, Scandinavian, or any other foreign language, and may readily be adapted to provide for the various peculiarities of any nationality or locality, or for any special use or purpose in which the combination or subdivisions will vary more or less. These index `tables are used in connection with books which are paged to correspond with the ta-A bles, and which books are usually (though not necessarily) provided with initial or Christian name columns.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view of three tables of our index for the initial letters A, B, and C, illustrating the conlbinations as arranged for a set of books with The serial No. 511,084. Ynu modem a total capacity of one hundred thousandnames. Fig.2-is a'view of vpart of a page of such a book, said page being for the combi--A nation .Bla. 'l l The tables a, b, c,"shown in Fig. l, are each provided with a heading d,lwhich f containsthe iirstletter ofthe surnames, usually printed (or written) in type of a large size,` so as to readily catch the eye. Each umns, the first of which, at the left,'eontainsthe second letter of surnames in a bold face type, and is `marked second letters.

by its marking, the third letters of` the surnames, and is marked third letters. The `third column, marked page, contains the book upon which any certain name is to be lfound, or-written. The fourth column is a blank column, for transfer pages, that is, the

gnames) are continued when the space, or. pages, assigned by the page column, becomes filled. Q r

At the foot of the table is a line-and paging, marked Special in the lirst column, whereby space is given for the entry of some special reference, or class of names, Isuch as associations, banks, churches, &c., which may not be it Vmay seein desirable or preferable to sepa-l rate from the names of persons, to be classi fied by themselves.

horizontal` linesare used to show or to mark the divisions between the dierent alphabetical letters of that column, and to aid the eye in catching the desired second letter. In

of letters are shown, large capitals and'smaller` ones, the former indicating the third letters ter indicate such third letters as are liable to occur but once in one hundred thousand names, or in the total capacity of the index, as in the B table we find Bai", Baj,`Bao, Baq, Bef, Bej, Bec, Bep, Beq, and in the C table We find Caj, Caq, Gax, Coq', Cou, Ouv, dac.; also in the second column the surnames italics printed out in full, such as Adams, Allen,Anderson, Andrews, Brown, Burke, Burns,

The` second vertical column, contains, as indicated' -igures top represent the pages of the naine readily located elsewhere in the table,or which In the first column short heading surinounts a series of vertical col- `pages on which certain combinations (sur- Vthe second column, of third letters, two styles' which are most in common use, while the lat- TOO most in common use are made to appear in Campbell, Carroll, Clark, Collins and Cook, which are thus segregated from other surnames which-begin with the samelirst three letters; also in eases of different terminal spellings, both spellings are indicated by adding or changing the terminal, as Brown-e, Clark-e, Cook-e and Anderson-en, showing both spellings, with or without the terminal e,7 or also showing the two spellings,-An derson and Andersen. In the third column a few extremely rare combinations of two letters are shown in italics with parentheses, Stich as Aq, Bd, Bn, Bs, Bw, Bz, Cd, Ck, Cm, Ct, and Cr, which are of the least frequency, and liable to occur only once in tive hundred thousand names.

In certain cases the three letter combinations are so infrequent that we have grouped them on one line, as A to Z, for such combinations as Aaa, Aab, Aac, Aad, dac., Bja, Bjb, Bjc, Bya, Byb, Bye, dre., Cea, Ceb, Cee, Ced, Cia, Cib, Cio, Cid, ,Cna, Cnb, Cnc, Cnd, Csa, Csb, Csc, Csd, dac.

In constructing these tables for certain localities or for certain elasses,regard may be had and due 'consideration given to frequently recurring foreign names, or to prominent local ,names Thus in Minnesota and other north- Western Stateswith a large Scandinavian population, names beginning with And, Joh,Han, or the elsewhere unusual Bj, Ol, dac., would be found in far greater proportions than in the East or South. In Canada, or other parts of this country, or for other special uses the Scotch, the German, or the Irish names might require special increase. So also in deed or mortgage indexes, certain prominent local names would need special provision. In adapt-` for by a suitable arrangement of paging in the name or record books.

In using these tables for reference, or for indexing, we for instance, to find the name Blaine, take the table headed with B, glance down the first column to L, and in the second column find A, giving the three letter combination Bla, and in the third column we find the numbers 189, which indicates the corresponding page Vin the name book upon which this name is to be found, or the page upon which it is to be entered, as shown in Fig. 2, Writing the name Blaine in the column headed Grantor, the, given name James in the column headed I J, and the letter Gr in the column headed Second initial, and we have the whole name, James G. Blaine, duly entered. The other names entered, for illustration in Fig. 2, are all namesvwhich begin with the samethree letter combination Bla andl are entered in the same manner as aforesaid, due reference be-` ing had to the first initial or name, and it second initial.

It will thus be seen that the features of our index are as follows: The first letter of the surname in large type in the heading; the second letter thereof in bold-face type in the column at the left, or first column; and the third letter in Varying style of type in the second column, thus subdividing each triple coinbination into its three elements; also subdi- Viding the third letters, by distinct markings, or variations in size, or form of letters, as large and small capitals, to aid the eye in distinguishing between those which are frequent and those which are of rare occurrence; also the italic and Very rare two letter combinations; and in conjunction with the three-letter-combination system, giving the very common surnames in full in italics, and showing one or more modes of spelling the same.

A1t will be seen that we have no horizontal lines with initial or secondary letters, singly -orin combination, in conjunction with vertiwhich create, eventually, a very large and confusing mass of figures leading to frequent errors in picking out the number desired` as is shown in `the patent to P. J. Schlecht, No. 347,304, of August 10, 1886.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

An index containing a series of tables, each comprising a heading containing a single alphabetical letter representing the firstletter of a name, a vertical column containing alphabetical letters representing the second letter of a name, a second vertical column contain ing alphabetical letters representing the third letter of a name, and a third column containing paging figures, combined with a second index composed of a series of vertical columns in which to enter Christian names, a single column for the second initials of the names, a

column for surnames, and columns for correlv ative and auxiliary entries, Substantially as specified'. l

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 12th day of May, 1894.

CHAS. C. HALL. ALBERT E. MCCHESNEY.

In presence of- HOWARD P. DENIsoN, M. M. BoRsT.

IOO 

